Transcoding Voice To/From Text Based on Location of a Communication Device

ABSTRACT

A device, method, and system for routing communications to an output of a communications device, such as a mobile telephone, based on the format of an incoming communication and an output mode of the communications device is disclosed. An incoming speech communication can be delivered to a speaker output or forwarded to a format converter to create a text communication that can be delivered to a display output. An incoming text communication can be delivered to a display output or forwarded to a format converter to create a speech communication for delivery to a speaker output. The output mode of the communication device can be set according to device settings, application settings, or location of the device, or a combination thereof. The invention provides new delivery options for communications which can be inure appropriate for a location or current use of the communication device than those previously available.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.11/421,581, filed Jun. 1, 2006, the entirety of which is hereinincorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the field oftelecommunications. More particularly, the invention relates to awireless communication system that alters device output modes based onoperating parameters.

BACKGROUND

Wireless devices have a number of user controlled parameters that can beadjusted to fit user preferences for a given situation. These parameterscan include, for example, ring type, ring volume, and instant messagingpresence information, among a plethora of other options. Many devicesallow for the creation of profiles that save a number of device settingsas a group for each profile, providing a convenient way for quicklychanging a number of options at one time.

Following Federal Communication Commission (FCC) mandates for enhanced911 service throughout the United States, wireless carriers, in manycircumstances now have access to location information for wirelessdevices connected to their respective networks, and consequently haveaccess to the location information for the users of these devices.

Location based services are being developed that marry these twoconcepts so that users are not required to change individual settings orprofiles manually, but are instead able to move from place to place withthe device changing its parameters based on its location. This can beuseful, for example, to set a more conservative ring-tone while the useris in their office of employment, and change the ring-tone to, forexample, the opening riff of a rock and roll song once they leave theoffice.

Instant messaging services, accessible via a personal computer or othercommunication devices, enable users of such services to exchangemessages or other information with each other in near real-time. Afeature of instant messaging services is a personal list, sometimesreferred to as a “buddy list,” which includes identification of otherusers with whom a user frequently communicates via the instant messagingservices. The availability status of other users on the personal list,known as an instant messaging presence of a user, includes not only“online” or “offline”, but also user-controlled statuses that mayindicate a location of the user, such as “gone to a movie,” “on thephone,” or “eating dinner.” Generally, the user-controlled statuses maybe changed in response to an action received by a user interface, suchas receipt of a selection of an instant messaging presence via adrop-down menu presented on the display of the communication device.

Changing settings, profile, and instant messaging information based onuser settings and the location of the device can provide convenience andprevent inappropriateness in many cases. However, in some cases this maylead to a user not receiving needed information in a timely manner. Forexample, a telephone call or voice message for the user may not bedelivered to the user while the user is in a meeting where thatinformation would be vital. This can happen, for instance, where theuser's phone, either through a manual setting or a dynamic setting basedon location, is placed in a silent mode where the ringer is turned off.A vibrate function can allow the user to know that there is someonecalling or that a voice message has been left for the user, but due tothe circumstances of the meeting, the user may not be at liberty to takethe call or listen to the message.

In other instances, the user may receive, for example, a short messageservice (SMS) text message, but be unable to read it due to the activityin which the user is currently engaged or the user's current situation,such as driving an automobile.

Therefore, there is a need and desire for a system and method forsetting a desired communication format of a wireless device that canaffect output modes based on user preferences, and a need for a systemand method for affecting output modes based on a location of the device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system according to the present invention for deliveringcommunications to a communication device includes routing logicconfigured to receive communications in one format, and configured toroute the communication to a communication device output or to a formatconverter based on routing parameters. The system can route textcommunications to a display output or to a format converter forconversion to a speech format. The system can route speechcommunications to a speaker output of the communication device or to aformat converter for conversion to a text format.

Routing parameters can include, but are not limited to, a location ofthe device, an application setting, and a device setting. An applicationsetting and a device setting can be based on a location of the device.An application setting can be an instant messaging application setting.An instant messaging application setting can be an instant messagingpresence.

In some embodiments, the invented system can include a location basedservices server configured to determine a location of the communicationdevice and to provide the location to the routing logic, where therouting logic is configured to route a communication based on thelocation.

In some embodiments, the invented system can also include a messagingserver configured to determine an instant messaging presence of a userof the communication device and to provide the instant messagingpresence to the routing logic, where the routing logic is configured toroute a communications based on the instant messaging presence.

An invented method according to the present invention can comprisedetermining a format of a communication intended for the communicationdevice, determining an output mode of the communication device, routingthe communication to a particular output of the communication device ifthe format is a corresponding format, routing the communication to aformat converter if the communication is not in a corresponding format,converting the communication to the corresponding format, and sendingthe converted communication to the output of the communication device.

The output mode can be set by, for example, a device setting, anapplication setting, and/or a location of the device. An applicationsetting or a device setting can be based on a location of the device. Anapplication setting can be an instant messaging application setting. Aninstant messaging application setting can be an instant messagingpresence setting.

A device according to the present invention includes a processor,speaker and display outputs, and computer readable memory. The computerreadable memory can include routing logic for directing the processor toroute communications in one format to a corresponding device output orto a format converter for conversion to an appropriate format. Thedecision can be based on one or more routing parameters.

Routing parameters can include, but are not limited to, a location ofthe device, an application setting, and a device setting. An applicationsetting and a device setting can be based on a location of the device.An application setting can be an instant messaging application setting.An instant messaging application setting can be an instant messagingpresence.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram representation of an exemplary system inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a data storage unit used by acommunication device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram representation of an exemplary system inaccordance with an alternative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is flow diagram illustrating a method of operation for anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosedherein. It must be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merelyexemplary of the invention that may be embodied in various andalternative forms, and combinations thereof. As used herein, the word“exemplary” is used expansively to refer to embodiments that serve as anillustration, specimen, model or pattern. The figures are notnecessarily to scale and some features may be exaggerated or minimizedto show details of particular components. In other instances, well-knowncomponents, systems, materials or methods have not been described indetail in order to avoid obscuring the present invention. Therefore,specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not tobe interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and asa representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variouslyemploy the present invention.

FIG. 1 is an overall system diagram illustrating the exemplary system inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. A communicationdevice 100 communicates with a telecommunications network 102 to placeand receive voice calls, short message service (SMS) messages, andinstant messenger messages through an instant messenger system, inaddition to any other communications, via a bi-directionalcommunications link 104. A location based services (LBS) server 106 canalso communicate with the communication device 100 through thetelecommunications network 102 via a bi-directional communications link108. A messaging server 132 can also be coupled to thetelecommunications network 102 via a bi-directional communications link130.

The communication device 100 can be any device capable of receiving andtransmitting data. The communication device 100 contains a processingunit 110, which can be communicatively coupled to other components ofthe communication device 100 via a system bus 114.

The communication device 100 contains a data storage unit 112, which isdiscussed in greater detail in FIG. 2. Data storage unit 112 can be anytype of memory, including but not limited to RAM, EPROM, or EEPROMmemory, and can store data in either volatile or non-volatile memory.The processing unit 110 and the data storage unit 112 can communicatevia the system bus 114. Alternatively, the processing unit 110 and thedata storage unit 112 can be included on the same microprocessing chip.

The communication device 100 also includes an I/O interface 116, whichcan reside on the same microprocessing chip as the processing unit 110.However, the I/O interface 116 can also reside on an external unit. TheI/O interface 116 can connect the processing unit 110 to a userinterface 128. In the case of a wireless device such as a cellulartelephone, the user interface 128 can include a keypad input 118, amicrophone input 120, and a speaker output 122. The I/O interface 116can include an analog-to-digital converter for converting an analogmicrophone signal to a digital microphone signal for use by theprocessing unit 110. The I/O interface 116 can also include adigital-to-analog converter to convert digital information from theprocessing unit 110 to the speaker output 122, such as voice data.

The processing unit 110 transmits and receives digital signals that areto be communicated outside the communication device 100 viacommunication circuitry 124 connected to an antenna 126. The antenna 126communicates signals through airwaves to the telecommunications network102 via a bi-directional communication link 104 when such a link isestablished, for example, when a call is placed to or from thecommunication device 100.

In some embodiments, the communication device 100 can include apositioning receiver and antenna (not shown) for receiving positioningsignals from positioning satellites to determine a location of thedevice.

The telecommunications network 102 receives signals, from thecommunication device 100 via antenna 126. The telecommunications network102 includes various components required to enable communication betweentwo or more communication devices, including wired connections, wirelessconnections, switches, and other devices for establishing communicationin the network.

The telecommunications network 102 can be communicatively coupled to alocation based services (LBS) server 106, which can be any computersystem with a capability to determine the location of a communicationdevice. The telecommunications network 102 can also be coupled to themessaging server 132 via a bi-directional communications link 130. Themessaging server 132 can be any computer system communicating with thetelecommunications network to provide messaging capabilities tocommunication devices on the telecommunications network 102, including aserver of a wireless service provider. The telecommunications networkcan additionally be connected to a format conversion server 134configured to convert a communication from a first format to a secondformat and/or from a second format to a first format.

The LBS server 106 can be a server capable of determining the locationof the communication device 100. The LBS server 106 communicateslocation information to the telecommunications network 102 via abi-directional communications link 108. The location information cansubsequently be transmitted to the communication device 100 via thebi-directional communications link 104. The messaging server 132 can beused for providing messaging capabilities to the communication device100 through an interaction with the telecommunications network 102,including but not limited to, an instant messaging client or server fora wireless services carrier. The messaging server 132 communicatesinformation, such as instant messaging presence or other informationpertaining to a user profile, to the telecommunications network 102 viabi-directional communications link 130.

Location of the communication device 100 can be determined in a numberof ways. The location of the device can be determined usingtriangulation techniques. Triangulation methods comprise measuringsignal characteristics to determine a location of the device. Time ofarrival of signals from network base stations to the device can be usedas well as time or arrival of signals from the device to network basestations. In addition, other parameters of the signal can be used,including, but not limited to, signal strength, signal phase, and whichof a plurality of directional antennas of a base station is receivingthe strongest signal from the device. Triangulation techniques are alsoemployed in global positioning system (GPS) based location techniques.In the case of GPS, signal parameters from a plurality of orbitingsatellites are measured to determine a location of the device.

Two standards for measuring mobile device location have emerged in theUnited States in response to the FCC mandate for location information onmobile devices to deliver enhanced 911 services. These are uplinkdifference time of arrival (U-TDOA) and assisted GPS (A-GPS). The globalservices mobile (GSM) wireless carriers are implementing U-TDOAsolutions, while CDMA and providers are using A-GPS. The presentinvention can be implemented in these and other mobile device locationdetermining schemes.

In addition to the robust techniques listed above, simpler techniquescan be used to determine a relative location between the mobile deviceand a person, place, or object. For example, a short-range radio beacon,such as a Bluetooth radio can be used to communicate with Bluetoothcapable devices. By merely establishing communication between the twoBluetooth radios, the mobile device can be made aware that it is closeenough to the external Bluetooth radio to be within its communicationradius. Another example of this location technique is the use of a carcradle, home charger, or any device that physically interfaces with themobile communication device 100. When the mobile device 100 isinterfaced with, for example, a car charger, the mobile device 100 canbe made aware that it is in a car. The present invention can beimplemented using these location determining schemes as well.

The transfer of location information between system elements can be theresult of various processes depending on the capabilities andfunctionality of the communication device 100. These processes include,for example, a query of an on board GPS receiver of the communicationdevice 100, a request by the communication device 100 for locationinformation from the LBS server 106, or a “push” of location informationto the communication device 100 by the LBS server 106 over thetelecommunications network 102. The location information can take anyform sufficient to identify the location of the user, such as, x and ycoordinate data, or latitude/longitude data. In some embodiments,coordinate data (or latitude/longitude) is not transferred to thecommunication device 100, but is instead used by an external (externalfrom the communication device 100) network element to determine alocation of the device 100. For example, the LBS server 106 can usecoordinate location data for the device 100 to determine that the deviceis “at home” by using a lookup table or other cross-referencing method,and provide this information to the messaging server 132 to update aninstant messaging presence of the user/device 100.

The system elements used to determine the location of the communicationdevice depend on the method used. Some elements may not be required forsome methods. For example, the Bluetooth related method and physicalinterfacing methods described above can be implemented without an LBSserver 106. In addition, in some embodiments location determinationusing GPS methods can be implemented without an LBS server 106.

Furthermore, some embodiments of the present invention do not require alocation determination, instead relying on various device settings, suchas device parameter settings, profile settings, or application settingssuch as instant messaging presence settings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram representation of the data storage unit 112 ofthe communication device 100. The data storage unit 112 comprises anoperating system 202, which contains instructions for operating thecommunication device 100. In addition to any other instructions, aprogram instructions unit 204 includes instructions, which when executedby the processing unit 110, perform methods of the present invention.The program instructions unit can include a format conversionapplication for converting a communication from a first format into asecond format and/or from a second format into a first format.Alternatively, format conversion operations can be performed by anetwork element external to the communication device 100. Aconfiguration data unit 206 can be included in the data storage unit 112that contains various configuration information data.

The data storage unit 112 can also contain a device settings unit 208.The device settings unit 208 can contain various parameters indicatingthe settings of the communication device 100. These parameters caninclude a value for indicating an instant messaging presence associatedwith the communication device 100. Another parameter can be acommunication format type. A communication format type can be associatedwith an instant messaging presence. Other device settings that can bestored in the device settings unit 208 include, but are not limited to,ring type, touch tone type, or appearance of the user interface 128. Thedata storage unit 112 can optionally include a format conversionapplication 210.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating systems and methods of routingcommunications according to the present invention. Routing logic 302 hasinputs for text communications 304, speech communications 306,device/application settings 308, and device location 310. It should beunderstood that the elements of FIG. 3 can be implemented in hardware orsoftware of the communication device 100 or in one or more networkelements (external to the communication device), or a combinationthereof. The routing logic 302 can reside in the communication device100 or on a network element external to the device or a combinationthereof. The routing logic can accept text or speech communicationsintended for the communication device 100 and route them based on thedevice/application settings 308 and/or the device location 310.

The routing logic 302 can route a text communication 324 to thetext-to-speech converter 320 or route a text communication 318 directlyto the device display 314 of the communication device 100. Thetext-to-speech converter can be included in the format conversion server134 of FIG. 1 and/or the format conversion application 210 of FIG. 2.Routing logic 302 can route a speech communication 328 to thespeech-to-text converter 322 or route a speech communication 316directly to the device speaker 312 of the communication device 100. Thespeech-to-text converter can be included in the format conversion server134 of FIG. 1 and/or the format conversion application 210 of FIG. 2.

Text communications 324 routed to the text-to-speech converter 320 areconverted to speech communications 326 and forwarded to the devicespeaker 312. The text-to-speech converter can be a voice synthesizerthat accepts text and outputs speech corresponding to the textcommunication being converted. The text-to-speech converter can beimplemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. Thetext-to-speech converter can be implemented in the communication device100, in external network elements, or in a combination thereof.

Speech communications 328 routed to the speech-to-text converter 322 areconverted to text communications 330 and forwarded to the device display314. The speech-to-text converter can be voice recognition hardware orsoftware that is capable of accepting human speech and outputting textthat corresponds to the inputted speech. The speech-to-text convertercan be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. Thespeech-to-text converter can be implemented in the communication device100, in external network elements, or in a combination thereof.

It should be understood that the pathways depicted in FIG. 3 can bewired interfaces or wireless interfaces.

The routing logic 302 can operate to route communication intended forthe communication device 100 according to user preferences/devicesettings, application settings, device location, or any combinationthereof. A communication device 100 user, for example, can, through adevice setting, indicate that text communications, such as SMS messages,are to be converted into speech communications before delivery to thecommunication device 100. The device setting can be an individualsetting or part of a device profile. This can be desirable where theuser will be in a situation where the user cannot or should not focustheir eyes on the display of a communication device to read a textcommunication. An example of such a situation is where the user isdriving an automobile. Also, a user might be in a situation where bothhands will be in use. A user might be working on a ladder, for example,where the user is in earshot of the device but unable to reach it. Insuch cases the communication device 100, for example, can be set to playtext converted to speech over a speaker of the communication device.Bright light conditions such as a sunny day on a lake might causedifficulty in reading a device display, in which ease a text-to-speechconversion can be desirable. Many other uses for such a feature will beapparent to one of ordinary skill in the art.

Likewise, a user can, through a device setting, indicate that speechcommunications should be converted into text communications beforeoutput to the communication device 100. This can be desirable insituations where the receipt of a speech communication would beimpossible (for example, at a loud concert), socially improper (forexample, in a church, movie theater, or business meeting), or the useris just not interested in taking calls at the time.

In addition to a user indicating communication receipt preferencesthrough device settings, application settings of device applications canbe used to determine how communications should be routed to thecommunication device. A user may be, for example, listening to an audioplayer built into the device. The settings of the audio playerapplication can instruct the routing logic 302 to route speechcommunications to the speech-to-text converter so as not to disturb theuser.

Another example is settings of an instant messenger application havingan interface on the communication device 100. Such applications haveuser presence information that can be set based on a number of factorsincluding, but not limited to, manual user settings, current use of thedevice, and settings of an associated messenger application on thedevice itself or on another device (such as the user's personalcomputer). Further examples of instant messenger presence settings canbe found in the related applications mentioned above which have beenincorporated by reference. The instant messenger application's presenceinformation can be used to determine how communications should be routedto the communication device 100. For example, if the presenceinformation indicates that the user is in a meeting, speechcommunications can be routed to the speech-to-text converter fordelivery to the communication device. A presence setting of “in the car”can cause the routing logic 302 to route text communication to thetext-to-speech converter for delivery to the communication device.

The routing logic 302 can also route communications based on a devicelocation. The device location can be determined using one or anycombination of the methods described above. For example, upon thecommunication device arriving at the user's business office, the routinglogic 302 can be configured to route speech communications to thespeech-to-text converter. If the location of the device is rapidlychanging (or has a threshold velocity, for example) the routing logiccan be configured to presume that the user is in an automobile and routetext communications to the text-to-speech converter (this may beundesirable if the user is a passenger in a car or is on a train, inwhich case the user can disable this feature). Bringing the devicewithin the communication radius of a Bluetooth radio located at a movietheater, for example, can cause the routing logic 302 to forward speechcommunications to the speech-to-text converter 320.

It should be understood that the device and device applications can beconfigured to accept a device location instead of, or in addition to thedevice location being provided directly to the routing logic 302. Forexample, the routing logic can route communications based on thesettings of an instant messenger application as mentioned above. Theinstant messenger application setting can be based on a location of thedevice. It should be understood that text communications include textmessages of an instant messenger application and speech communicationsinclude any speech communications or voice chat data of an instantmessenger application.

The routing logic can also route communications based on the settings ofthe communication device. The communication device 100 settings can bebased on a location of the device.

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of a method 400 according to the presentinvention. This method can be implemented in hardware, software or acombination thereof and can be implemented in the communication device100, network elements external to the communication device 100, or acombination thereof. The method begins at 402 and proceeds to 404 wherea communication intended for the communication device 100 is received.At 406 the communication is checked to determine if the communicationcomprises a text format. If the communication comprises a text format,operation proceeds to 408. If the communication does not comprise a textformat, operation proceeds to 410 where the communication is checked todetermine if the communication comprises a speech format. If thecommunication comprises a speech format, operation continues to 412. Ifthe communication does not comprise a speech format, operation proceedsto 414. If 414 is reached, the communication does not comprise formatssupported by the method and is delivered to the device unaltered, andthe method ends at 416. It should be understood that the method of FIG.4 is exemplary and additional formats can be added to the presentinvention.

Returning to 408, a query of device settings, application settings,and/or device location is performed. At 418, the results of the queryare checked to determine if the state of the device settings,application settings, and/or device location indicates that the deviceshould receive speech only. This determination can be accomplishedthrough the use of a lookup table, or any other logical method formapping or associating a set of conditions to/with an outcome. Examplesof possible logical arrangements are given below in Tables 1 through 4.If the data does not indicate that the device should receive speechonly, operation continues to 420 where the text communication isdelivered to the communication device display is its text format. Themethod then ends at 416. If device should receive text only, the textmessage is converted into a speech format at 422. The speech formattedmessage is then delivered to the communication device speaker at 424.The method ends at 416.

Returning to 412, a query of device settings, application settings,and/or device location is performed. At 426, the results of the queryare checked to determine if the state of the device settings,application settings, and/or device location indicates that the deviceshould receive text only. This determination can be accomplished throughthe use of a lookup table, or any other logical method for mapping orassociating a set of conditions to/with an outcome. Examples of possiblelogical arrangements are given below in Tables 1 through 4. If the datadoes not indicate that the device should receive text only, operationcontinues to 428 where the speech communication is delivered to thecommunication device speaker in its speech format. The method then endsat 416. If device should receive text only, the speech message isconverted into a text format at 430. The text formatted message is thendelivered to the communication device display at 432. The method ends at416.

It should be understood that the method 400 can be implemented as a loopsuch that the method continuously waits for incoming messages, performsconversion operations as needed, and again waits for incoming messages.

Table 1 shows a set of relationships where a communication mode of acommunication device is based on device settings.

TABLE 1 Device Setting Communication Mode Text Only Text Only SpeechOnly Speech Only Silent Text Only Soft Normal Loud Normal

Five device settings are shown in Table 1. Table 1 is exemplary and manymore device settings can be used to determine a communication mode ofthe device. A “text only” or “speech only” device setting can be used toplace the device in a corresponding communication mode. Profile settingsfor “silent”, “loud”, and “soft” can be mapped to communication modesaccording to user preferences. User preferences can be entered through auser interface of the communication device as is known in the art forsetting other profile features, for example, the interface used forsetting a ring tone corresponding to a given profile. In the example ofTable 1, the device is set to receive text only when the device is in a“silent” profile. In the “soft” and “loud” profile, communications canbe delivered as normal. That is, text delivered as text, and speechdelivered as speech.

Table 2 shows instant messaging (IM) presence indicators mapped todevice communication modes.

TABLE 2 IM Presence Communication Mode At Work Normal In Meeting TextOnly Do Not Disturb Normal Away Normal In Car Speech Only AvailableNormal Busy Normal Available for Speech Only Speech Only Available forText Only Text Only

Table 3 shows device locations mapped to device communication modes.

TABLE 3 Location Communication Mode Not Stored Normal At Home NormalConnected to Car Charger Speech Only At Church Text Only At OfficeNormal

Locations such as “At Home”, at “Church”, and “At Office” can beconfigured through user preferences. For example, when the device islocated at the user's home, the user can use an interface to define thecurrent location as “At Home”. The user can provide a radius from thecurrent location for which the “At Home” setting will apply, or this canbe a fixed value for each location setting determined by the serviceprovider. The “Not Stored” location refers to a location that the devicedoes not recognize. For example, the device is located in an area thatthe user has not defined or the location of the device cannot bedetermined.

Table 4 shows a set of relationships between various device settings,instant messaging presence settings, device locations, and devicecommunication modes,

TABLE 4 Communication Device Setting IM Presence Location Mode Text Only— — Text Only Speech Only — — Speech Only Normal In Car — Speech OnlyNormal In Meeting — Text Only Normal In Theater — Text Only NormalAvailable Not Stored Normal Normal Busy Not Stored Normal NormalAvailable At Office Text Only Normal Available Connected to Car SpeechOnly Charger Normal Available At Church Text Only

In the set of relationships shown in Table 4, priority is given to thedevice settings, then to the IM presence settings, and then to thedevice location in determining the communication mode of the device. Thedevice settings of “Text Only” and “Speech Only” cause the communicationmode to be set correspondingly. The “-” in the other columns indicates alogical “don't care”. In the remaining table entries, the device settingis set to “Normal”.

Where the IM presence is set to “In Car” the location setting isignored, and the communication mode is set to “Speech Only”.

The law does not require and it is economically prohibitive toillustrate and teach every possible embodiment of the present claims.Hence, the above-described embodiments are merely exemplaryillustrations of implementations set forth for a clear understanding ofthe principles of the invention. Variations, modifications, andcombinations may be made to the above-described embodiments withoutdeparting from the scope of the claims. All such variations,modifications, and combinations are included herein by the scope of thisdisclosure and the following claims.

1. A tangible computer-readable storage medium for deliveringcommunications to a communication device having a display output and aspeaker output, the storage medium comprising computer-executableinstructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor toperform a method comprising: receiving a communication intended for thecommunication device; and routing the communication, in a first format,to a format converter or to a device output based on at least onerouting parameter selected from a group of routing parameters consistingof a location of the communication device and an instant messagingpresence established for a user of the communication device.
 2. Thetangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein theinstructions define the format converter and further cause the processorto convert the communication in the first format into a second format ifthe routing logic routes the communication to the format converter basedon the at least one routing parameter.
 3. The tangible computer-readablestorage medium of claim 2, wherein the format converter converting thecommunication in the first format into the second format comprises aspeech-to-text converter converting the communication in a speech formatinto a text format.
 4. The tangible computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 2, wherein the format converter converting the communication inthe first format into the second format comprises a text-to-speechconverter converting the communication in a text format into a speechformat.
 5. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 1,wherein routing the communication, in a first format, to the formatconverter or to the device output includes routing the communication ina format selected from a group of formats consisting of a text formatand a speech format.
 6. The tangible computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 1, wherein routing the communication, in the first format, to theformat converter or to the device output includes routing thecommunication to the format converter or to the device output, being aspeaker output.
 7. The tangible computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 1, wherein routing the communication, in the first format, to theformat converter or to the device output includes routing thecommunication to the format converter or to the device output, being adisplay output.
 8. The tangible computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 1, wherein, the instant messaging presence is based on thelocation of the communications device.
 9. The tangible computer-readablestorage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause theprocessor to receive the location of the communications device from alocation-based services server.
 10. The tangible computer-readablestorage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause theprocessor to determine the location of the communications device. 11.The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein theinstructions further cause the processor to receive the instantmessaging presence of the user from a messaging server.
 12. The tangiblecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the formatconverter includes a text-to-speech conversion function and aspeech-to-text conversions function for: converting the communication tospeech format if the communication is routed to the converter and thefirst format of the communication is text format; and converting thecommunication to text format if the communication is routed to theconverter and the first format of the communication is speech format.13. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 2, whereinthe storage medium and the processor are components of the communicationdevice.
 14. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 2,wherein the storage medium and the processor are components of atelecommunications network element.
 15. A computer-implemented methodfor evaluating communications intended for a communication device havinga display output and a speaker output, the method comprising: a tangiblerouting logic receiving a communication being in a first format andintended for the communication device; and the tangible routing logicdetermining whether to route the communication, in the first format, toa format converter or to a device output based on at least one routingparameter selected from a group of routing parameters consisting of alocation of the communication device and an instant messaging presenceestablished for a user of the communication device.
 16. The method ofclaim 15, wherein the tangible routing logic is a component of thecommunication device, so that receiving the communication anddetermining whether to route the communication to the format converteror to the device output are performed at the communication device. 17.The method of claim 15, wherein the tangible routing logic is acomponent of a telecommunications network element, so that receiving thecommunication and determining whether to route the communication to theformat converter or to the device output are performed at the networkelement.
 18. A tangible computer-readable storage medium for evaluatingcommunications intended for a communication device having a displayoutput and a speaker output, the storage medium comprisingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor,cause the processor to perform a method comprising: receiving acommunication intended for the communication device; and determiningwhether to route the communication, in a first format, to a formatconverter or to a device output based on at least one routing parameterselected from a group of routing parameters consisting of a location ofthe communication device and an instant messaging presence establishedfor a user of the communication device.
 19. The tangiblecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the storage mediumand the processor are components of the communication device.
 20. Thetangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein thestorage medium and the processor are component of a telecommunicationsnetwork element.